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EOWG Minutes 14 May 2004 Meeting

on this page: attendees - outreach updates - standards harmonisation - site redesign drafts - next meeting

Agenda

agenda in e-mail list archives: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-eo/2004AprJun/0070.html

Attendees

• AA: Andrew Arch, scribe
• AC: Alan Chuter
• BM: Blossom Michaeloff
• CL: Chuck Letourneau
• DS: Doyle Saylor
• HBj: Helle Bjarnø
• JB: Judy Brewer, chair
• LC: Libby Cohen
• NL: Natasha Lipkina
• SAZ: Shadi Abou-Zahra
• SLH: Shawn Henry, changelogger
• SP: Sailesh Panchang

Regrets

• CS: Carol Smith
• SD: Sylvie Duchateau
• JT: Justin Thorp

Outreach Updates

• CL: Chuck Letourneau had an article published in "Canadian Disability" about Web accessibility (written for non Web users)
• RC: Roberto Castaldo spoke on Web accessibility at two recent conferences

Standards Harmonisation

Background:

Document is Why Standards Harmonization is Essential to Web Accessibility - 14th May 2004 draft
Change log is Change Log: Why Standards Harmonization is Essential for Web Accessibility - see "Change log and requests from 7 May 2004"

Minutes:

• JB: updated 14 May 2004 with a restructure from last discussion
• Judy took us through the changes. New structure is:

1. <H1>Why Standards Harmonization is Essential to Web Accessibility
   1. <H2>Abstract
   2. <H2>Overview
   3. <H2>Current Situation
   4. <H2>Consequences
      1. <H3>Web Developers
      2. <H3>Authoring Tools
      3. <H3>Evaluation Tools
      4. <H3>Organizations
      5. <H3>Browsers, Media Players, Assistive Technologies
      6. <H3>Information Repositories
   5. <H2>Action Steps
   6. <H2>Related Resources

• CL: easier to follow the arguments
• CL: jargon - "information repositories" - didn't understand. Did you mean metadata or collections of information?
• JB: maybe I used the wrong term - any suggestions?
• CL: Google "define information repository" showed an ok match - just different from my normal understanding of the term
• CL: "define knowledge repository" turns up nothing
• JB: other reactions ?
• From Actions:
  • How to point people to other materials about "participation"
    • JB: Not done as no other pointers; also, no good "participation" page at present
    • JB: So - for now we don't link, but add later when the page is rewritten?
    • Agreed
  • Andrew's comment re lower accessibility because of multiple standards to meet
    • JB: not incorporated because seems speculative - any concrete examples?
    • SLH: one company Shawn worked with has experienced this
    • HBj: should we include possible excuses for people to adopt lower standards? Within EuroAccessibility we decided not to include any consideration of national standards in TF3.
    • JB: suggestion - in "organisations" section, add something after second sentence "... and this may take time away from accessibility efforts" (or similar)
    • Agreed
  • Is the current structure ok without transition sentences between sections?
    • agreed
  • William's comments from last friday
    • JB: will consider copy edits
    • JB: Browser section - rewritten - second para, second sentence, particularly - but may need a better example - or remove for this release?
  • Agreed to remove
• JB: How long do people need to read in order to approve?
  • Many done reading; others asked for weekend
• JB: proposing a simple wrap-up - post something to list for all "members in good standing" to say:
  • can live with it as it stands, OR
  • needs particular changes
• JB: if all ok, then we have a finished document
• AC: In Browsers section: Difference between standards doesn't affect the Browser side, does it? At least not differences between content standards.
• JB: wanted to add something about the problem of having multiple user agent accessibility guidelines - e.g. S508 generic software standard (1194.21) vs UAAG has slowed down adoption amongst browsers. Maybe needs a better transition sentence.
• SP: Also a synergy effect between guidelines
• JB: two things trying to get across - a) current fragmentation on UAAG side affects accessibility in agents. b) synergy aspect. Maybe needs more time to sort out.
• AC: could it mention other software standards
• AA: maybe generically. There are others, e.g. IBM, MS, Sun
• discussion about approaches to cover this
• JB: is there any simple suggestion regarding the synergy issue? or is covered in the second para of Web Developers section? Maybe refer back to this material?
• JB: will discuss with Matt May and Ian Jacobs for suggestions
• JB: will put out an update asap - if no good synergy capture immediately obvious, then drop the section?
• Agreed

Site Redesign - drafted sections for home page

Background (from agenda):

See SLH email from 13 May 2004:

• one or two short sentences answering, "What is WAI?"
• one or two short sentences about participating in WAI

Minutes:

What is WAI?

drafts:

• short version: WAI, a W3C domain, is an international forum for collaboration.
• longer version: The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is an international forum for collaboration between industry, disability organizations, accessibility researchers, government, and others interested in Web accessibility. WAI is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Discussion:

• longer version preferred
• what about "education"?
• SLH: is "collaboration" sufficient - or is the list required?
• LC: ok, just thought the the "E" from"EO" is missing
• SLH: covered elsewhere
• good to show the breadth of collaboration
• Is there a better word then "part"?
  • keep for now - flag for possible amendment
• LC: do we need "accessibility researchers"?
• JB: an essential group - started much of the process and did the core work
• Longer version accepted

Participating in WAI

notes:

• will be with a link that would go to the page with lots more details
• one purpose is to help debunk the myth that WAI is a closed organization
• there is a separate section listing sponsors and linking to more information on sponsoring

drafts:

• more formal version: WAI welcomes participation from individuals and organizations around the world. Participation opportunities range from reviewing, implementing, and promoting guidelines to participating in a working group as a W3C member organization.
• casual "you" version: There are many opportunities for you to participate in WAI, from implementing WAI guidelines to contributing techniques to a working group.

related question: - should the link be "Participating in WAI" or other?

Discussion:

• SLH: plan to link to a new page inviting participation and explaining what is available and how to participate
• SLH: during user testing people were looking for the word "volunteer"
• JB: WAI does rely on much time and effort donated by participants within a member organisation. But all kinds of contribution and effort - some is volunteering, but other ways of contributing as well.
• CL: formal vs casual - if not casual everywhere, then do not be casual in one place
• Formal version accepted

Next Meetings

• 21 May 2004 was not scheduled - how many regrets if we did meet? Significant number - will not meet.
• Next meeting - 28 May 2004
• Also, Paris Meeting "Web Accessibility Best Practices Evaluation Training" 6 July 2004